Wheel and axle coupling



(No Model.)

..v B. RTER.

WHEEL AND AXLE PLING. No. 301,478. Patented July 8, 1884.

mal. 5i @165% mi@ UNiTsD STATES PATENT intron..

ALBA BRIO GS CARTER, OF GREAT FALLS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SOLO- Rari/Ioni), new nanrsninn.

W. PRESCOTT, OF

WHEELAND AXLE. COUPLING.

' :QPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 301,478, dated July 8, 1884.

Application filed December 11` 1883. (No model.)

To all whom t Tlv/Cty concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBA Baines CARTER, of Great Falls, in the county of Strafford, of the State of New Hampshire, have invented a vnew and useful Improvement in Carriage lWheel and A Xle Couplings; and I do hereby declarethesarne to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, ol' which- Figure 1 is a top view, and Fig. 2 a long-r tudinal section, of a wl1celhub and part of an axle with my invention applied thereto, the nature of such invention being defined in the claims hereinafter presented.

The improvement relates to means for coupling the wheel-hub to the axle.

In the drawings, A lenotes part of the axle, with a journal, B, extending therefrom. while C is the metallic sleeve of the hub D, such sleeve being closed at its outer and open at its inner end. `lithin-the neck of the journal,l and extending around it, is a groove, a,whieh in transverse section is semicireular or the lesser arc of a circle. Around this groove, and in the sleeve, is another such groove, b,which is designed to hcldoil.

In the groove c, and also in a cup-shaped or spherical segmental recess or socket, c, in a screw, E, screwed laterally into the sleeve,

there is placed a spherical ball, F. There is hinged to the head of the said screw a flat handle, G, the head being rabbeted to receive it, and allow it, when turned down, to be iiush with the outer end of the head.

In the rear collar, d, of the hub is a recess, e, to receive and fit to the handle when the latter is turned down, and to cause it to be flush with the outer surface of the collar. This handle and recess are to prevent the screw from' becoming accidentally unscrewed. There may be properly applied to the handle and the collar a spring for holding such handle down in place in the recess, or preventing it from accidentally working out of such while the wheel may be in revolution. the handle upward it may be used for revolv* ing the screw, whether for unserewing it for Vthe removal of the ball out oi' the groove a, to

be effected, or for screwing the screw down to Ou turning place to hold the ball in the recess ofthe screw 5o groove a and the recess of the screw, and such ball will, with the screw and the groov'e a,keep fthefhib'eoupled tothe axle. Preparatoryto 55 ienovingthe hub' froiiithe axle it will only be necessary to turn back the screw far enough for the ball to pass out of the groove a, when the wheel-hub is tu rned around so as to carry the screw into its lowest position, or under- 6o neath the journal. On the screw being removed froui the sleeve oil can 'be supplied through the screw-hole to the oil-chamber or groove b, and to the bearingsurface of the sleeve and journal, asoccasion may require. 65 Were the screw simply grooved diametrically across its lower end instead of having a cupshaped recess to receive the ball, it would not retain the ball, which would be liable to become choked in the groove of the journal, so 7o as to render it difficult for Ait to be carried around by the sleeve in order to fall by gravity out thereof on the removal oi' the screw from the sleeve, and the sleeve being revolved so as to carry the screw-hole to its lower ver- 75 tical position. Vith the spherical segmental or cup-shaped recess in the screw the ball is always retained in the said recess while the screw is in place in the hub and the latter may be revolving, the ball revolving at the time in 8o the screw. Vith the cup-shaped recess the ball can be readily carried around directly underneath the journal, so as to drop out of it and the hub on the removal of the screw Afrom the latter. The groove l). in the sleeve serves 8 5 with the groove a as a reservoir of oil for the ballv and its recess in the screw, and also for the sleeve and j ournal; and, besides,it enables one or more other balls to be used when desirable, in` which case such ball or balls would 9o be in both the grooves a and Z1, and be forced around in such by the ball F, while the hub might be revolving.

I claim# 1. The combination ofthe ball and the screw 9 5 provided with the spherical segmental or cupshaped recess, as described, to receive such ball, with the wheel-hub sleeve, and with the 

